'Mountain' Leads SAG Award Nods

"Brokeback Mountain," a tale of cowboys in a forbidden romance, led contenders Thursday for the Screen Actors Guild Awards with four nominations, including honors for actor Heath Ledger.

The film biography "Capote" and the ensemble drama "Crash" were next with three nominations each, among them honors for their entire casts and for lead actor Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") and supporting actors Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon ("Crash").

Ledger earned a best-actor nomination for his role as a family man concealing a homosexual affair with an old sheepherding buddy, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who received a supporting-actor nomination. Michelle Williams, who plays Ledger's wife, was among supporting-actress nominees.

"Brokeback Mountain" also was nominated for best performance by its entire cast, along with "Capote," "Crash," the Edward R. Murrow tale "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Hustle & Flow," the story of a pimp and drug dealer forging a career as a rapper.
Joining Ledger in the lead-actor category were Hoffman as author Truman Capote in "Capote"; Russell Crowe as Depression-era boxer Jim Braddock in "Cinderella Man"; Joaquin Phoenix as singer Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line"; and David Strathairn as newsman Murrow in "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Lead-actress nominees were Judi Dench as a society dame who starts a nude stage revue in 1930s London in "Mrs. Henderson Presents"; Felicity Huffman in a gender-bending role as a man preparing for sex-change surgery in "Transamerica"; Charlize Theron as a woman leading a sexual-harassment lawsuit at a mining company in "North Country"; Reese Witherspoon as Cash's soul mate and eventual wife, June Carter, in "Walk the Line"; and Ziyi Zhang as a poor girl who becomes a belle of Japan in "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Awards will be presented Jan. 29 in a ceremony televised on TNT and TBS. SAG nominations are chosen by 4,200 randomly chosen members of the union. The guild's full membership of 98,000 is eligible to vote for winners.

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture